On the eve of U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s appearance before Congress—his first since his redacted version of the Russia report was released—it was revealed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller expressed dismay at Barr’s summary of his work. Barr dodged questions about Mueller’s criticism of how he characterized the evidence—including 10 instances of potential obstruction of justice by Barr’s boss. Democrats called on Barr to resign. Republicans said the collusion matter is closed. They wanted to talk about Hillary’s emails instead. —David E. Rovella

Here are today’s top stories

Barr stood by President Donald Trump, and even threw shade at Mueller and his staff, calling a letter criticizing Barr’s actions “snitty.” Mueller, a former FBI director and decorated ex-Marine captain, may have something to say about that when he testifies before Congress.

Timothy L. O’Brien writes in Bloomberg Opinion that Mueller’s letter, and what it says about his opinion of Barr’s actions, is very different from what Barr told Congress last month.

Trump lost an attempt to block a lawsuit by almost 200 Congressional Democrats who claim he is violating the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation is possibly being dragged down by “transitory” forces. Translation? The rate remains the same. 

Vanguard Group has figured out a way to shut off taxes in its mutual funds.

An Oregon metals maker faked test results and provided faulty materials to NASA, causing more than $700 million in losses and two failed satellite launch missions. Its parent company paid a $46 million fine.

What’s Joe Weisenthal thinking about? The Bloomberg news director is looking at why Bitcoin is trading on the exchange Bitfinex at a price that’s about $300 higher than other exchanges around the world. The reason could be, counter-intuitively, that the New York attorney general is showing an interest in its relationships, and $850 million in lost assets.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

• After five years of Modi, India is falling further behind China.
• President Nicolas Maduro is still in control of Venezuela.
• Oil drillers are spending lots of money. Wall Street says cut it out.
• Billionaires say they are worried about the wealth gap.
• Apple owes Qualcomm at least $4.5 billion.
• These college admission scam parents just pleaded guilty.
• Eating rice may help prevent obesity.

What you’ll want to read tonight in Pursuits

Forget Flowers, This Is What Mom Really Wants 

Somehow, when it comes time to buy a token of appreciation for the person who does the most demanding, important job in the world, we tend to stereotype-shop like we’re buying for June Cleaver. Consider instead a bottle of toe-curling mezcal, or a piece of garden hardware that looks like it could be used to slay dragons. 

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